Merlin Evans!
by FieryGryffindor27
Summary: A series of one shots in which James has thoughts about Lily. READ AND REVIEW! X
1. First Year: Part One

**_Hey guys! So I've been off this website for a WHILE... *winces* but I'm back now :) so on with the story! Anything in italics has come out of the books!_**

 ** _Disclaimer: I have prayed for several years, but I have never, nor will I ever, own Harry Potter._**

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 _'Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart!' Like my dad." said James Potter, lifting an invisible sword._

 _Severus Snape snorted. "If you'd rather be brainy than brawny - "_

 _Where are you hoping to go, seeing as you're neither?" Sirius jeered, and Snape flushed._

 _Lily looked disdainfully at the both of them and stood up. "Come on Sev, let's go." she said loftily, walking out of the compartment._

James wanted to beg her to stay, not wanting this vision of beauty to leave so soon, with her flaming red hair and piercing green eyes. "Hey, wait…" he called, but she had already left the compartment.

Sirius looked at him with a frown. "Oh come on Potter, it was just a joke," he said.

"It's not about that…" he said, lying back and closing his eyes, not wanting Lily to leave his thoughts.

"Then what is it about… dear Merlin, no, not for that redhead?" asked Sirius with a frown.

"She's an angel," James said breathlessly.

"She's nothing but trouble," said Sirius bluntly. "She pretty much hates our guts."

"I don't care," said James. "I'm in love."

Sirius laughed. "Good one, mate."

But as Sirius started to talk about the Sorting ceremony again, James's mind was still full of Lily. "Merlin," he whispered to himself, "This girl is going to be mine."


	2. First Year: Part Two

**_Second part of first year! Ah poor Severus... xD ENJOY!_**  
 ** _Disclaimer: Seriously? Me owning Harry Potter? *scoffs* NO._**

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Lily Evans, he later found out was her name, while she was being Sorted, and he celebrated when she came into Gryffindor. What else would she be, with that fire in her eyes…

"OI! James! Stop drooling over Evans, yeah?" said Sirius, smirking as James blushed crimson.

"I can't help it," James said defensively.

"Remus smiled timidly. "Lily's a nice girl." he commented idly, but shrank back at James's murderous glare.

"She will be mine Lupin." growled James.

"I don't doubt that," sighed Remus, trying to pacify him

"Enough of this." said Sirius, taking a Filibuster firework out of his bag, aiming at Severus's cauldron and throwing.

BANG! Severus's cauldron exploded, sending Swelling Solution everywhere, including Lily. She looked at Severus in surprise, but he held his hands up, which were rapidly swelling.

Lily glanced at the Marauders and noticed them all laughing.

James noticed Lily, and on an impulse, shouted, "Evans! Go out with me!"

Lily glared murderously at him. "I wouldn't go out with you even if you were the last human in the world! I HATE YOU!" she screamed.

As Slughorn sent her out to the Hospital Wing, Remus looked at James. "Bit too forward don't you think?" he asked exasperatedly.

"I still can't believe you said that, even after I pranked her." said Sirius, snickering.

James groaned. "Shut up the both of you." Merlin, Evans, James thought. You're beautiful even when you're angry.


	3. Second Year: Part One

**Gods guys, I'm so sorry that this is so late *ducks vegetables flying my way* but I went to India and came back and I'm trying to get used to sixth form. Anyway, read on, and I'm so so so sorry this is late :(**

 **Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter, Fred would not be dead and George would not have to live without his twin.**

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Sirius sat down next James in a huff. "We have to help Remus. Have you seen his scars?" he said in a hush as Frank Longbottom walked past them.

"I can't believe he kept this from us," said James, throwing aside a sixth year book on werewolves."We're his best friends."

Peter said, "Well what more can we do? Look up healing spells? Wait for him in the hospital wing? Oh wait," he said sarcastically. "We already do."

"That's why I'm saying that we need to take it to the next level," urged Sirius, pulling out a huge book from his bag and throwing it on the table.

James read the title. "Animagi Transformations: the good and the bad. Are you _mental?"_ he hissed.

"He's loopy," confirmed Peter.

"I'm in." James said with a grin, fistbumping Sirius.

"So many things could go wrong," Peter fretted.

"Sure it could Peter. But what if we got it right?" whispered Sirius. "We could be out, roaming the grounds with him - "

"Preventing him hurting himself as bad in that shack." Finished James.

"McGonagall would have our heads." Argued Peter feebly, starting to see that they were right.

"She doesn't have to know," argued James. "Let's do it."

"The book I have has pages ripped out. I have a feeling we're going to need to look into the Restricted Section." Said Sirius.

"Can't we sneak out and look at night?" asked Peter.

"No we can't, we need a good four hours in there to just find the books." Said James with a groan.

"We could always get a note from the teachers," mused Sirius.

"And what excuse do we have?" retorted James. "They'd never trust us."

"We could always ask Evans…" trailed off Peter as James got a dreamy look on his face as Sirius scoffed.

"Evans?!" spluttered Sirius. "Peter, she'd rat us out!"

"I agree with Peter." Said James, "Let's find her."

"Potter, have you lost your mind?" Sirius asked harshly. "Evans would turn us in without a moment's notice -"

"Why am I turning you guys in?"

All three boys whipped around. Evans stood at the top of the staircase, an eyebrow raised.

"Lily," James breathed, once again blown away by her beauty.

"Evans, we need your help," chimed in Peter, as Sirius elbowed him and James – James to stop gazing wistfully at her and Peter to shut up.

"With?" she asked warily. "Is this some kind of prank? I will report you if that's what it is."

"Its for Remus," said James, for once in his life, being completely and utterly serious.

Lily bit back a scathing retort. She could doubt many things about the boys, but she would never doubt their affection for Remus. "I'm listening."

Sirius, decided to word this carefully. "Evans, Remus has been looking ill for the past 8 eight days and he always refuses to go to the hospital wing. Trust me," he added, "We've tried everything."

"So you need me because…" Lily trailed off and James jumped in.

"We're still trying to figure out what he's come down with, and we're checked out every section in the library…except the Restricted Section." He said.

"You need me to get a signature don't you." Said Lily, her job finally dawning on her.

"Please, Evans. I swear this isn't a prank and you'd be helping as and by extension him as well." Pleaded Peter.

"How do I know you're telling the truth?" she asked suspiciously.

James didn't know why this came to him suddenly, but it did. "Marauders' Oath." He said, placing a fist over his heart.

"Marauders' Oath." Repeated Sirius and Peter, copying the action.

Lily sighed and gave in. "Alright, I'll do it now." She walked towards the portrait.

"Evans?" asked James.

She turned around. "Yes Potter?"

 _I want you by my side._ He thought. "Go and find Slughorn. Don't say this to McGonagall and I need you to keep this secret." He said. _I wish you were mine._

Lily looked at him suspiciously. "Why am I not telling McGonagall?"

James inwardly cursed. "We've tried asking her already," he lied. "She wouldn't give us one."

"Alright Potter. I will be discreet, I promise." She walked out of the common room.

"You know," Sirius mused. "She may hate us, but she'd probably do anything for Remus."

"She's not so bad." Added Peter.

James simply sat back and closed his eyes. _Merlin, Evans,_ he thought, _did I even need any reason to fall even faster for you?_

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 **Review peeps! 3**

 **~FieryGryffindor27**


	4. Second Year: Part Two

**I dont like this one that much, but I hope you enjoy! School is manic right now, so apologies for that late update :(**

 **Disclaimer: I'm too ill to think of something creative. I don't own Harry Potter! The honour belongs to Queen Rowling.**

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James watched Remus trying to refute every point they came up with for being with him during the full moon in amusement.

"What happens when I injure you lot?!" Remus practically screamed.

"We use dittany and look up sixth year healing stuff." Said Sirius lazily. "The three of us are half decent at Charms and Potions and Pete here knows a fair bit about muggle healing."

"You all don't understand! I could bite you, I could – I could end up killing you all!" shouted Remus, running a hand through his hair. "And I don't – EVER want to get you – if you all died – this isn't like planning a stupid prank on the Slytherins!"

 _Thank god they'd chosen to talk to Remus in the Room of Requirement instead of the dormitory,_ thought James wryly, as he sat down on the couch next to him, placing a hand on the sandy haired boy's shoulder. Remus was shaking.

"Remus Lupin, get this into your head. We don't care if we get injured." Peter said determinedly.

"Honestly, Lupin, you'd think after a year after being friends with you, we'd learn to think things through." Sirius said, a smirk gracing his handsome features.

"Remus, we know all the consequences. We know all the risks. And we sure as hell know the benefits." Said James softly. "We could all be free… free at last to roam the grounds, just like we wanted last year before McGonagall threw a fit…"

"Even if you all survived, you would be expelled for attempting to be animagi, I'd be expelled because I told you lot - " Remus started to argue.

"Dumbledore would never do that to you," Peter insisted.

"And we barely know how to get out of the castle without being detected, we don't even know half our way around!" Remus fumed, but when James looked at him, he knew he'd run out of steam.

Besides, he was right on one point. Although they knew about the existence of secret passageways in the school, they had no idea where any of them were, and they still got lost sometimes, particularly Peter.

"Well… what about making a map?" asked Peter.

All three of them looked at him, startled.

"Why not? The castle is huge! It wouldn't be bad to keep a record as to where everything is." Argued Peter.

"Think bigger Pete," said Sirius, his mind suddenly coming alive. "We could charm the map to show people on the map, it could help us with pranking – "

"Think bigger Sirius," said James. " We'll finally be able to sneak out, help Remus and keep our legacy once and for all, we can leave our mark properly…" He turned to Remus, awaiting confirmation, the way he did before confirming any prank.

Remus looked at them with a small, hopeful smile on his face. "This is highly irresponsible." He said, pretending to frown.

"But of course." said Sirius, with a bow.

"We could be caught." Remus added, half smiling.

"Hell yes." Agreed Peter.

"But who cares?" asked James softly.

The atmosphere changed in the room, from tense and uncertain, to happy and confident. It wasn't the kind of elation that came with planning a prank however. It was the happiness that, they knew they would always have each other.

They walked out of the Room of Requirement… to come face to face with Lily Evans.

Lily looked at them as though they'd just materialised out of thin air. Which, to be fair, James thought, it looked as though they had.

"What on earth… I could have sworn I saw you four come out of a wall," said Lily, dumbfounded.

As he became breathless at her beauty as usual, panic began to settle inside James. She could not know. She would get them all chucked out for sure.

"Evans! You're obviously tired, we've just come on to this corridor, the stairs are being a right pain in the – " he turned Lily around, in the direction of the Gryffindor portrait, but Lily pushed his hand off and whipped around, her flaming locks flying, to glare at him.

"Don't. Touch. Me." She snarled, backing away from him, towards the common room.

 _Strawberries,_ realised James, for he'd caught a whiff of her shampoo when she'd turned around. _Merlin, he wouldn't mind her hair hitting his face every time she turned away from him if he could just smell the fruit again…_

Sirius, seeing as his best friend had frozen, rolled his eyes. He turned to Lily. "Apologies for my dunderhead of a best mate. He's just too smitten with you."

"Firstly, never in a blue moon. Secondly, I think the word dunderhead describes both you and your best mate," snapped Lily. "Now are you going to tell me how you materialised out of a wall and scared the hell out of me?"

The Marauders shifted awkwardly. James was still in a trance.

Lily snorted. "Fine by me. Remus, send my regards to your mother by the way. It really is terrible that she becomes so ill." She walked away from them.

All four let out a collected sigh of relief, though James's was a sigh of longing.

"That was close," said Peter. "We've got to be careful."

"I think Lily knows," said Remus worriedly.

"She swallowed up the lie about you going home to visit your mother," scoffed Sirius.

"She's the cleverest witch of our age! Of course she smells a rat, and not the Peter kind." Argued Remus.

"Strawberries…" said James dreamily, until Sirius smacked him upside the head. "Ouch Sirius! I mean, Remus come off it. If she knows, she would have told a teacher by now. Breathe, your furry little rabbit has not come out yet."

"Strawberries?" asked Peter confused.

"Her shampoo…" James drifted back into dreamland

"Alright Potter, you need to forget about Evans," said Sirius, steering his besotted friend towards the common room.

James sighed contentedly. He could still smell her shampoo. _Merlin, Evans. Don't ever change your shampoo._

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 **Yeah I still don't like it :/ REVIEW!**


	5. Third Year Part One

**I know, this is really, really late, but updates will be slightly slow due to AS levels *groans* I have no idea if Divination could be taken during James and Lily's time, but for the sake of the story, I'm including it.**

 **Happy reading (hopefully) :)**

 **Disclaimer: *gets up on a box and shouts into a microphone* Harry Potter belongs to me - *gets tomatoes thrown at me* No okay, its a lie.**

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James stared intensely into the crystal ball. Why, oh why, did he have to be persuaded by his friends to take Divination, he had no clue. The professor simply couldn't engage a class, was wispy, and obviously HAD to insist on them climbing a bloody rope ladder to reach her classroom.

Seriously, he was going to kick Sirius in the nuts for this.

James heard a scrape of a chair and saw out of the corner of his eye, a familiar redhead sitting at their table. Lily.

James made a mental note to kiss Sirius for persuading him to take Divination.

Lily looked at them all warily. "Much as I think all of you lot are idiots, none of my friends take Divination, and the Slytherins would Avada me if a Mudblood walked by their pureblooded table," she said loftily.

Don't ever call yourself that, James wanted to say, but Sirius cut in.

"Well what about Snivellus?" he retorted. "Would you rather stay with your Dark Arts buddy? I wouldn't, if you hear the rumours – "

James elbowed him sharply, noticing that, for the first time, she had become extremely stressed when the topic of Snape was mentioned.

Remus glared at Sirius. "Shut up Sirius," he snapped, then turned around to Lily, who had made a movement to get up. "Lily, sit down of course you can work with us."

Lily sat back down and gave him a grateful smile.

James felt the familiar stab of jealousy he was accustomed to feeling whenever he saw Remus and Lily being friendly. Get a grip Potter, he mentally scolded himself, he says he doesn't like her.

"Today," the professor's voice suddenly rang out and startled him, "We will be interpreting the future in crystal balls. Please turn to page six and interpret the signs…"

 _Signs_ , he thought wryly. _What he would do to get a sign from Lily._

The four of them stared into the milky orb. James looked surreptitiously at Lily, marvelling at the way the light of the crystal ball reflected in her eyes.

Lily, unaware of his gaze, frowned at the crystal ball. "I can't see a thing. Am I supposed to be seeing something here?"

Remus squinted at the ball. "I'm supposed to be seeing shapes, but I can't see anything either."

Sirius scoffed. "It's a bullshit subject you guys, she's just making all of this crap up."

James's elbow suddenly slipped off the table, startled, for he thought he had seen a dog across the surface. He rubbed his eyes furiously.

The rest of the table stared at the activity.

"Mate? You look as if you've seen a ghost…" said Sirius, chortling.

"Black, he's pale," said Lily, looking at James curiously.

"Nice to show you care Evans," he tried for a cheeky wink, but he could not share the cold feeling going down his spine.

"James, you've obviously been frightened by something…" started Remus, but James shook him off.

"I'm fine, I just… thought I'd seen a dog in the blasted thing…" said James, trailing off.

"A dog you say?" All four of them jumped as the professor suddenly appeared behind them.

"Professor I was probably hallucinating - " James tried to say, but the professor was already looking into the ball.

Her eyes widened as she backed away from the table. "Haven't seen the Grim in years…" she whispered.

"Okay, what on earth is a Grim?" burst out Lily.

The professor's eyes met James's slightly sceptical ones. "It is a large, black dog," she hissed. "The omen of death."

James wanted to scoff incredulously, just as Sirius had, but he could not shake that cold feeling. Once outside the classroom he shuddered violently.

"Mate, you aren't still thinking about that dog are you?" asked Sirius.

"I – Of course not," he said, attempting a laugh and shoving Sirius.

"Such a liar, Potter." Lily walked up to the three of them, determinedly.

James thought his heart would stop. _Is she talking to me? Civilly?_

"Divination is a load of rubbish, Potter," said Lily frowning. "You're not about to die because some dog showed up in your teacup."

"I love that you care so much about me Evans," said James, much more cheekily.

Lily turned pink. "Of course not," she said loftily. "I'm just telling you to not be such an idiot about it." She turned and flounced away from them.

Remus groaned. "You were starting to redeem yourself, then you just had to blow it with her…" he said, slapping his hand to his forehead.

"He wouldn't be Prongs if he didn't mess things up," said Sirius, laughing. "I swear, James, you'll never win her over…"

James felt his whole body relax and he stared after Lily, sighing. _Merlin, Evans._ He thought. _Thank you for your common sense._


End file.
